Greater Control And Flexibility

Last night we released a number of changes that greatly increase the content moderation capabilities of our HOA websites.  Additionally these changes also provide community administrators and content moderators greater control over when residents are sent email notifications.

New Moderation Features

First let's look at the new moderation features. In the past, residents were able to post news and events directly to their HOA website. This was great because it removed barriers to getting them involved and helped to engage the community.

Unfortunately, it also enabled residents to email every other resident in the neighborhood without a filter. Needless to say, this made some HOA board members and property management companies nervous. 

Now residents are still able to add news and events but they are first routed though the community administrators  and moderators for approval. When residents post new items an email will be sent to administrators and content moderators notifying them that an item is pending their approval.

After following the link provided in the email notification, administrators and content moderators now have the opportunity to preview and edit news posts and community events prior to publishing them to the site. Once approved or "published" the items will then appear on the live HOA website. 

Optional Email Notifications

As administrators or moderators are approving the item they also have the opportunity to optionally notify residents of the news or events via email. Prior to yesterday this was the default behavior and there was no way to prevent the email notifications from being sent. We made these changes for two reasons.

First, not all news or events are important enough to interrupt the residents. Too much communication and residents become annoyed and start to tune it out. Not enough communication and residents are not engaged and participation declines.  Every community is different and we now enable you to find the right balance for your HOA website.

Secondly, these changes now allow administrators and content moderators to send residents email notifications when news or events are significantly edited. Previously, if a change was significant enough to warrant a new email notification the item would need to be deleted and the edited version re-posted as a new item.

We hope you enjoy the greater control you now have over resident email notifications and the content published on your HOA website. Both of these enhancements came directly from our feedback forum so please keep the ideas and votes coming. We are listening to you!

Thanks and we will see you 'round the neighborhood!